On the law.

Informant Wants `Salvage Of Dignity'

July 13, 1993|By William Grady, Bill Crawford and John O'Brien.

Poor, misunderstood Robert Cooley.

The criminal-defense bar is focusing on his past career as a bribe-paying lawyer and a fixer when instead we should be filled with admiration for his work as an undercover informant and key prosecution witness in the federal Operation Gambat investigation.

That's the message Cooley appears to be peddling in what has become an increasingly contentious war of words with the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which is considering whether to recommend that his law license be revoked.

Cooley apparently believes that conventional wisdom and his trial testimony haven't told the whole story on why he began cooperating with the feds, and he wants an opportunity to make his own record when his work for prosecutors has ended.

"After more than seven years of public silence, in a commitment to a public purpose, the legal issue here is whether I'll ever be permitted a private due process to speak," Cooley wrote in his latest brief filed with the disciplinary commission.

"In practical terms, this concerns whether my legal career should be allowed to end with some salvage of dignity, or as an exceptional example of professional disgrace."

Oral arguments on Cooley's request to reopen hearings were scheduled for Friday before a commission review board. But the matter was postponed to Aug. 13 after Cooley requested a delay because he had been preparing his testimony for the federal corruption trial of former Cook County Judge Adam Stillo Sr. and his nephew, lawyer Joseph Stillo. Cooley began his testimony Monday afternoon.

Cooley is not contesting efforts to strip him of his law license. But, in written arguments that were heavy on boldface and unfavorable references to ARDC administrator Mary Robinson-described as a "dour disciplinarian" in one passage-Cooley says he wants only a "right to offer a statement of mitigation when my prior commitment to testify in several federal trials has concluded."

Cooley has not practiced law since his license was suspended by the state Supreme Court in September 1991. A disciplinary commission hearing board recommended in March that he be disbarred.

The place to be

A committee of Chicago's Federal Bar Association is scheduled to meet Tuesday to evaluate the 10 finalists for three vacancies on the federal bench here. But the big date and place for decision is next Monday in Washington.

That's when Illinois' two U.S. senators, Paul Simon and Carol Moseley-Braun, have arranged interviews with the finalists.

The senators are expected to send their choices by the end of the month to President Clinton for nomination to the bench.

In Chicago, the evaluation process continues to plod along. But time grows short. Simon's office has let it be known that Friday is the deadline for bar association recommendations.

The Chicago Council of Lawyers met with finalists last week, and the Chicago Bar Association is scheduled to do the same this week.

After her selection as a finalist, Bucklo removed herself from any participation in the evaluation efforts by the Federal Bar Association, of which she is president.

Frank J. Dolan, who chairs that bar's judicial selection committee, acknowledged the separation. "When it (the selection of finalists) was made known to me, I called Elaine and told her, `You are one of the 10.' She doesn't even know who my committee members are."

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